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☆ Torch Capital's founder has some advice for startup founders: Down rounds aren't such a bad thing right now. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Jonathan Keidan founded VC firm Torch Capital, which backed Ro and recently raised $200 million. Good founders will opt for down rounds over deal terms that could come back to bite, he says. As venture capital funding plummets and investors tighten their purse strings, Jonathan Keidan has a word of advice to startup founders: It's OK to take a down round. Most of the founders Torch has backed, Keidan said, are still steering clear of the relatively sluggish market. "You can roll up your sleeves and really help them, which has been critical in this environment," Keidan told Insider.

☆ Would You Rent Your Home to Rihanna?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Spyro Malaspinas | E.B. Solomont | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The process is an extremely quiet exercise in matchmaking. Vacant homes that are listed for sale can be a win-win for everyone involved. Mr. Malaspinas paid $7.3 million for the home in 2022. Photo: Steve Craft for The Wall Street Journal

☆ How TikTok became a 'gold mine' for dancers looking to get discovered and changed the way they make money
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

"This app is a gold mine for artists like me who are still looking for their big break," Dharmapuram said. As TikTok has ascended, popular artists from Dua Lipa to Lizzo have integrated TikTok dances into their promotional strategies and seen their songs go viral. TikTok creators, professional dancers, choreographers, and dance companies who spoke with Insider said the app had changed the way they choreographed, helped them earn more money, and given them access to career opportunities they otherwise wouldn't have had. TikTok has also given dance companies and agents access to talent they otherwise wouldn't have known about. Even dance companies like American Ballet Theatre have gotten on the bandwagon.

☆ How TikTok has changed the dance industry, becoming a 'goldmine' for performers looking for their big breaks and driving choreography that fits the frame
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

"This app is a goldmine for artists like me who are still looking for their big break," Dharmapuraum said. As TikTok has ascended, popular artists from Dua Lipa to Lizzo have integrated TikTok dances into their promotional strategies and seen their songs go viral. TikTok has also given dance companies and agents access to talent they otherwise wouldn't have known about. Even dance companies like American Ballet Theatre have gotten on the bandwagon. As more people have hopped on TikTok dance trends, creators, especially those of color, have called for proper crediting for choreography, which the app has tried to address with more tools.

REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstApril 5 (Reuters) - Johnny Depp's first live-action film since the widely watched defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard was selected as the opening movie for next month's Cannes Film Festival in France, organizers said on Wednesday. The French-language film "Jeanne du Barry" stars director Maïwenn Le Besco, known as Maiwenn, as Jeanne Becu, a woman who rose from poverty to the circles of King Louis XV. Depp plays the king in the movie, which will have its world premiere at Cannes on May 16. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor has made few film or TV appearances since his trial concluded in June 2022. Depp also voiced an animated puffin in last month's "Johnny Puff: Secret Mission."

☆ Meet the typical Adidas US customer, a 20-something who earns just under $100,000 and looks to Adidas for fashion and fitness apparel
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Danni Santana | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Adidas in 2022 reported $24.6 billion in sales across footwear, apparel, and sporting equipment. Adidas' typical customer is a millennial and Gen Z customer earning just under six figures. Today, Adidas employs over 59,000 workers and in 2022 reported $24.6 billion in sales, across categories like footwear and apparel. The typical US Adidas customer earns a mid-to-high average income of between $75,000 and $99,000, according to Start.io, a mobile marketing platform that helps partners serve relevant ads on their apps. "They're following the same lines in terms of fashion and sport," Omri Barnes, chief marketing officer at Start.io, told Insider.

☆ Rihanna spent $500,000 to rent an Arizona man’s house during Super Bowl week—it was enough to pay off 2 years of his mortgage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Celia Fernandez | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The home sits on about an acre of land in Paradise Valley, which is located between Phoenix and Scottsdale. A property management firm Malaspinas already worked with approached him with an offer of $500,000 to rent out his home for a week during Super Bowl LVII in February. "The last thing I am is a real estate baron," Malaspinas told The Wall Street Journal. The Grammy-award-winning singer used the Super Bowl to announce she is currently pregnant with her second child with her partner A$AP Rocky. The 2023 Super Bowl was the third most-watched television show in history, with an estimated 113 million people, according to CNBC.

☆ Chloe Bailey makes solo album debut with 'In Pieces'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Alicia Powell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Chloe Bailey, also known by her stage name Chloe, sits for a portrait at Sony Music global headquarters in New York City, U.S., March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Shannon StapletonNEW YORK, March 28 (Reuters) - U.S. singer and actress Chloe Bailey, half of sister R&B duo Chloe x Halle, releases her debut solo album on Friday, a record whose message she says is: it is OK to show your vulnerable side. We all have scars but it's just who wears it the best," Bailey said in an interview. "The creative side didn't feel different, but (not) having the moral support and the validation from someone who's been my best friend since I was a little girl ... that was incredibly scary," Bailey said of doing the album solo. Bailey has faced a backlash over her covers of classic songs "Feeling Good" and "Lovin' You", as well as her revealing outfits.

☆ Wall Street says TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew had a 'disaster' day in Congress — but the internet is loving him
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Reena Koh | Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

On Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Wall Street slammed Chew's testimony, dubbing it a "disaster moment" for TikTok. The video has over 1.2 million views, over 215,000 likes, and a range of comments expressing their approval for Chew. Two days before the Congressional hearing, TikTok's official account shared a rare video of Chew casually introducing himself to people. In the video, Chew gave context about the hearing and asked viewers to tell him what they enjoyed about the app.

☆ How Ryan Reynolds, Rihanna and Other Celebrities Made Fortunes From Side Hustles
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Joseph Pisani | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Jessica AlbaThe Honest Co., the diaper and detergent company co-founded by the actress, went public in 2021, with the company valued at $1.4 billion. The stock has since slumped, and the company was valued at about $254 million as of March 15, 2023. Paul Zimmerman/Getty

☆ On Oscars Carpet, the ‘Naked Dress’ Ruled
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Rihanna and red carpet host Ashley Graham in complementary revealing looks on Oscar night. Today’s Naked Dress trend, in full effect at the Oscars and its various celebrations Sunday, is in line with Saint Laurent’s prescient vision of glamorous nudity. On the Academy Awards’s red carpet, the Naked Dress continued its proud, chilly parade with looks such as Eva Longoria’s Zuhair Murad white lace gown and Ashley Graham’s fully sheer black tulle dress with cutouts. To the Vanity Fair Oscars party, Olivia Wilde wore a white Gabriela Hearst column cut away to reveal a leather bra. Rihanna’s custom Alaïa leather dress worn over a sheer jersey bodysuit was a provocative pregnancy twist on the look.

☆ Champagne carpet and crisis team ready for Oscars celebration on Sunday
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In case of an unexpected twist, a crisis response team will be on hand at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Several of 2022's biggest hits at the multiplex landed in the best picture race, from "Top Gun" and "Everything Everywhere" to "Elvis" and "Avatar: The Way of Water." To change up the look, organizers swapped out the traditional red carpet for the first time since 1961, opting instead for a champagne color. "Everything Everywhere All at Once," an offbeat story about a Chinese-American laundromat owner struggling to finish her taxes, comes in as the favorite to win best picture. The dimension-hopping kung fu adventure has swept the major Hollywood awards in the weeks leading up to the Oscars.

☆ Rihanna's Wealth: Breaking Down Her $1.4 Billion Business Empire
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Energy Breakthrough Opens Up Possibility for Better Battery PowerA team of researchers from the University of Rochester think they have found the holy grail of energy transmission. And in the next decade, it could change how we use our personal gadgets, medical devices and the energy grid. WSJ science reporter Aylin Woodward joins host Zoe Thomas to discuss this new superconductor. Plus, if you have questions about generative artificial intelligence, email us a voice recording at tnb@wsj.com. Photo by Lauren Patracca/WSJ.

☆ Meet the 8 Black and Latina female founders whose startups have reached a $1 billion valuation or higher
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A report found nine Black and Latina female founders have reached a $1 billion or higher valuation. The biennial report, which Project Diane and the organization DigitalUndivided released Wednesday, compiled data from more than 750 Latina and Black female founders who have received outside funding. The report also found that there are now more than 350 Black and Latina female founders who have raised at least $1 million in funding, and at least nine Black and Latina female founders have reached a $1 billion valuation. Here are eight Black and Latina female founders who have achieved this feat, in order of the highest current valuation. Each company on this list has at one point achieved a $1 billion valuation, but some have lost that value over time.

☆ What could go wrong? Oscars team prepares for anything after Will Smith slap
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LOS ANGELES, March 8 (Reuters) - Organizers of Sunday's 95th Academy Awards are preparing for the unexpected after Will Smith's infamous slap of Chris Rock convulsed Hollywood's biggest awards ceremony last year. For the first time, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has created a crisis team to respond to any mishaps. The organization has not disclosed details about the membership of the crisis team or how it may react to anything out of the ordinary. Weiss said the team was planning to pepper the show with moments that they hope would spread on Twitter and TikTok. Pop superstar Rihanna will sing her nominated song "Lift Me Up" from "Wakanda Forever."

☆ Adidas hasn't decided whether it's going to take a $526 million hit from not selling remaining Yeezys
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Adidas split with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, in October after he made antisemitic comments. On Wednesday, the company said it hasn't decided what to do with its remaining Yeezy inventory. But of late, the company's public statements seem to be leaning towards simply liquidating the remaining Yeezy inventory or destroying it. Regardless of what Gulden and Adidas decide to do with the remaining Yeezy inventory, it will likely be a challenging year. "There is no other Yeezy business in the market," he said.

☆ Paris Fashion Week 2023: All the Best Runway Looks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Kevin Huynh | Alexander Fisher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This story may be updated with more from fall 2023 collection fashion shows. Produced by Leah LatellaREAD MORE:From Rihanna to Chloë Sevigny, the Winners of New York Fashion WeekGrammys 2023: Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Lizzo and More Looks From the Red CarpetParis Couture 2023: See the Boldest Looks from Chanel, Schiaparelli and Valentino

"Everything Everywhere All at Once" leads the 2023 Oscars with 11 nominations, including best picture, best director (the Daniels), and best actress (Michelle Yeoh). Here's a rundown of all the ways you can watch and stream the 2023 Oscars live. How to watch the 2023 OscarsYou can watch the 2023 Oscars live on March 12 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC. The ABC network is available via cable, antenna, and several live TV streaming services, including Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and FuboTV. A24The 2023 Oscars includes nominees across 23 categories, covering every aspect of the filmmaking process.

☆ How ‘RRR’ Created the Most Rollicking Movie Scene of the Year
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( John Jurgensen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

It’s the first song from an Indian film ever nominated for an Academy Award, and it has a good shot at beating numbers from pop heavyweights including Lady Gaga and Rihanna at next Sunday’s Oscars. But despite the addictive chorus and propulsive beat of “Naatu Naatu,” the biggest force behind the song’s success is a dance—a heel-thrusting, suspender-bending, dust-kicking sequence that accompanies the tune in the action epic “RRR.”

☆ Puma channeled Michael Jordan to announce Rihanna's return to the sportswear brand: 'She's back'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Mary Hanbury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Her return announcement referenced Michael Jordan's infamous return to the NBA in 1995. It's not yet clear what this collaboration will involve but Puma teased fans on Instagram with a post that said: "She's back," alongside her Fenty brand logo. One of her sneaker designs, the Fenty x Puma creeper, was voted shoe of the year by industry news outlet Footwear News in 2016. Fenty Beauty, one of her most successful ventures, helped to catapult her into the Forbes billionaires list in 2022. According to Forbes estimates, Fenty Beauty brought in over $550 million in annual revenue just one year after it launched and is currently worth around $2.8 billion.

☆ Why Goldman’s consumer ambitions failed, and what it means for CEO David Solomon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Hugh Son | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

That's because many of the decisions Solomon made over the next four years — along with aspects of the firm's hard-charging, ego-driven culture — ultimately led to the collapse of Goldman's consumer ambitions, according to a dozen people with knowledge of the matter. Goldman executives were eager to seal the deal with the tech giant, which happened before Solomon became CEO, they added. The rapid growth of the card, which was launched in 2019, is one reason the consumer division saw mounting financial losses. Within months, Ismail left Goldman, sending shock waves through the consumer division and deeply angering Solomon. Goldman should plow some of those volatile earnings into more durable consumer banking revenues, the thinking went.

☆ Fact Check-Rihanna was not wearing a pentagram belt during the Super Bowl halftime show, contrary to online claims her belt was ‘satanic’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Pop and R&B superstar Rihanna was wearing a safety harness during her performance at the Super Bowl halftime show. Posts on social media shared a grainy photograph of her outfit and claimed her belt had a pentagram on it, as an ode to satanism. Posts on Twitter (here) and Facebook (here) include blurry images they purport show Rihanna wearing a black buckle with a six-pointed star. Higher definition photographs of the halftime show published by Reuters show that Rihanna’s harness did not have any kind of star on it, but a regular buckle (here) (here). Rihanna was not wearing a pentagram during her halftime show performance.

☆ From Rihanna to Chloë Sevigny, Fashion Week Prioritized Charisma Over Clothes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

In “Iron Man 3,” superhero Tony Stark is haunted by the existential question of whether the suit makes the man or the man makes the suit. The fashion industry depends on the former—selling clothing that it promises can transform and complete you. And recently, garments have continually trumped their wearers, with interchangeable influencers modeling attention-grabbing trends like micro-kilts, Big Red Boots and bra tops. But these past few days at New York Fashion Week, the message is that, though fashion can help, ultimately it’s the wearer that elevates a look. Even larger-than-life Rihanna in a notably casual, yet punchy, Super Bowl halftime look echoed the theme from afar.

☆ Rihanna may not have gotten paid for her Super Bowl halftime show performance, but her music streams saw a massive surge
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Rihanna performed at the Super Bowl LVII halftime show on Sunday in her first live performance in over five years. Like past performers, she wasn't paid, but her music sales and streams have skyrocketed since Sunday. Songs on which Rihanna is the primary artist raked in over 62 million on-demand streams on Sunday and Monday compared to 25.8 million streams the two days prior, Billboard reported. Per Insider's Sarah Al-Arshani, Super Bowl halftime show headliners are paid little to nothing for their performance, although the NFL does cover the costs associated with putting the show on. Her brands, Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, and Savage X Fenty all featured special-edition "Game Day" products to consumers.

☆ NFL says Super Bowl watched by 113 million viewers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LOS ANGELES, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Sunday's Super Bowl attracted an average of 113 million viewers across traditional television and digital platforms, the National Football League said on Monday, citing preliminary data. The NFL said that figure represented a six-year high for its championship game, which this year was broadcast on the Fox TV network (FOXA.O) and streamed on Fox digital properties and NFL+. A final audience tally will be released by Nielsen on Tuesday, the NFL said. The Super Bowl ranks as the most-watched event on U.S. television every year, though viewership has been dwindling since it peaked in 2015. Viewership increased during the halftime show starring pop and R&B superstar Rihanna, averaging 118 million people on TV and digital platforms, the NFL said.

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